Stellantis Rally Cup Lander Depotter and Emilien Allart first winners of the season

For once, it was in Sint-Truiden, as part of the Rally van Haspengouw, that the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup got underway. This was doubly interesting, as Rally4 and Rally6 now constitute two separate parts of a competition primarily designed to propel the best young drivers into the spotlight. This is exactly what happened in Haspengouw... Winner of last year's Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup and Junior BRC, Lander Depotter started as the logical favourite. From the first two special stages, the Opel Corsa Rally4 driver, assisted by Jasper Malfait, set the tone, already pulling away at the top of the standings. This was the start of a relentless demonstration, with Depotter only losing one stage during the day! The result: an undisputed first victory... "Following on from last season, I obviously knew what to expect," smiled Lander Depotter. "So there was no adjustment period, which allowed me to rack up the stage wins. I knew what I had to do, and I did it right to the end..."In the wake of the leader, Manuel Merlevede and Thomas Cloet quickly pulled away into second place, being the only ones to manage to steal a stage win from Lander Depotter and Jasper Maelfait. "I made a few mistakes during a very difficult morning," explained the driver of the new Peugeot 208 Rally4. "After that, it was less complicated, and I focused on gaining experience..."Corentin Fiasse and Adrien Hauteclair, also in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, completed the first podium of the season, with the driver admitting to lacking confidence during the first loop. The Rally van Haspengouw classification was completed by the ever-reliable Steven Spittaels, accompanied by Hans Verhaege in the Peugeot 208 Rally4, who got the better of newcomers Clément Willaert and Kévin Dejonge in an Opel Corsa Rally4.The Rally Battle is off to a great start!Five cars in the Rally6 category made up the second part of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup in Sint-Truiden. Nolann Lejeune and Loïc Dethier (Opel Corsa Rally6) took the top spot twice... before a puncture and a wheel change during the special stage caused them to plummet down the provisional overall rankings! This worked to the advantage of Emilien Allart (Opel Corsa Rally6), co-driven by the highly experienced Johan Jalet, who drove intelligently, not seeking performance at all costs, to finally clinch the first victory of the season! "It went well," said the driver racing for the RACB National Team. The main mission was to stay on the road and avoid mistakes, which we managed to do. Thanks to Johan for his valuable advice, and to everyone who made this adventure possible!"While Emilien Allart took the victory, Nolann Lejeune and Benjamin Bosseloir were consistently the fastest on the special stages. However, the time lost during the first loop proved costly, as Jean Beaupain and Jonathan Lemaire (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally6) took the silver medal in Haspengouw, finishing less than 30 seconds behind the winners. They finished ahead of Benjamin Bosseloir and Loïc Dumont (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally6), who were off the pace at the start of the first loop before suffering a puncture in SS4, while Nolann Lejeune and Olivier Dethier (Opel Corsa Rally6) missed out on a podium place, but not without showing some impressive speed, winning seven of the eleven special stages contested! Promising for the future... Less successful were Benoit Wauthier and Yoan De Mol, whose Peugeot 208 Rally6 went off the road at the end of the very tricky first loop.